Just before Christmas, we posted news about 'Starcrossed' from Kajak Games Osk, one of the winners of the 2012 Dare to be Digital contest run by a number of Scottish Universities. Since then I've been dipping into this title frequently, and it's about time this arcade puzzler had a full review.
When the team behind the second James Bond film 'From Russia With Love' settled on a marketing message, they went for the simple idea of a 'bigger, better, Bond'. Firemint have gone for the same approach with their sequel to the genre defining line drawing game Flight Control. Released as an Xbox Live exclusive title by Nokia, Flight Control Rocket moves the action into space, and asks you, once more, to marshall the approaching craft into a safe landing.
You probably saw our review of HDR Photo Camera a few weeks ago? It's fair to say that David's test shots were limited more by him not using a tripod than the software itself. And now, just like London buses, you want one HDR application and then two come along at once. This time it's Tequnique's HDR Camera and I tried it both with and without a tripod. In summary, images can look spectacular if you're careful, though purists will rightly point out that real life colours can't match up to this HDR version of reality.
So my Mum asks me what time the next train back to Edinburgh is. Rather than hit Internet Explorer, go to a website, choose my station, and navigate the timetables, I head to the Windows Store instead to download the Scotrail application. As I mentioned in yesterday's look at my live tiles, I've been travelling around Scotland by rail in the last month or so, but this was the first time I was planning a trip 'on the fly'. And I'd argue that in today's 'app economy', the browser is no longer the first place to look.
Nokia's Xbox Live exclusive title Blobster is an example of a game that looks great on paper, and has all the elements that should make for a good game - but fails to deliver. It's not easy to put my finger on why Blobster doesn't make the grade, but let's give it a go.
While it is a Nokia exclusive, it's the only new Xbox Live title released in 2013 (so far) so let's take a look at the artillery/destruction genre gaming that is on offer in Picnic Wars.
Having all these maps and navigation applications is all well and good if the sun is up or you are on a road, but what happens when you want to get off the beaten track? When you want to do less 'over there' and more 'out there'. When you look up into the star filled night sky, why not look up with Escape Velocity's Star Chart.
Who's up for some adventure on the High Sea? That's what Rum Run promises, as you play a young and plucky sailor with a heart of gold. You used to plunder the world for profit, but now you'd rather be noble and rebuild the destroyed villages around the seas you sail. Can you trade enough goods to make enough money to buy food and supplies to restore the villages to their former glory?
No, this is not a new XBox Live game, it's actually an old one and I cannot believe that Ewan left this one for me for so long - we're both flight sim nuts! As it turns out, Rise of Glory is as much a game as it is a 'simulation', but it's none the worse for that and straddles the divide between the two genres pretty well. In short, it's World War I acrobatic duelling, with planes everywhere, frantic rolling and diving and firing and... generally trying to survive! Somewhat surprisingly, the biggest flaw in Rise of Glory turns out to be the size of your right thumb and its relation to your phone's 'Start' key...
Jewel Tower is a fast paced block building game, but unlike the Tetris genre, the aim is not to make as many lines as possible and keep the game grid as clear as possible, you're asked to build your stack of bricks as high as possible. And when you manage to get to the required height, you'll move up a level and be asked to build a higher tower from scratch. Oh and it's against the clock.
